Tuesday, February 13, the two first grade classes celebrated the hundredth day of school in color! Each student was to dress from “head to toe” in the color of their choice. The multicolored students posed in front of cameras to make a rainbow of kids. This nice event was the culmination of the work done in English and in French since the beginning of the school year with the album, Emily’s first 100 days of school (Les 100 premiers jours d’école d’Emilie). A great team work done in 1st grade!”

The fourth graders were exposed to a 3D training on the platform Minecraft with François Tregouet in history class. They were shown how to manipulate a self-created world including building 3D structures. Students, who are skilled in this field, were given the opportunity to run workshops to support their peers. The students are encouraged to use this platform as an option to build their California Mission Project.

The goal of this lesson was to teach kids that words have the power to hurt and to heal. Our words have power and they have meaning. Our words impact those around us.

After introducing the class to their new classmate “Charlie”, each child said something kind to Charlie and then something unkind to Charlie. As they said unkind things to Charlie, Charlie was taken apart and the piece was given to the student who said the unkind words.

After Charlie was in pieces, it was time to put Charlie back together. Each child who said something mean to Charlie had the opportunity to apologize to Charlie and then tape the doll back together.

When the torn body is fully repaired — no matter how hard the students have tried to piece him back together — Charlie will not look the same as when students met her/him for the first time.

Charlie’s feelings were hurt, and the scars remain. Chances are those scars will never go away.

Charlie serves as constant reinforcement of a vivid lesson in kindness.

Kindergarten students had the pleasure of working with the 4th graders on Wednesday afternoon. They identified geometric shapes traced by Probot (programmed by the 4th graders). With the 4th graders, they differentiated cursive letters, lowercase or capital letters … etc. The 4th graders encouraged, aided, assisted them, and showed kindness and a lot of support.

The Second grade went to the Museum of art in Balboa. They enjoyed the tour very much with Maria who spoke in French with them, kept them entertained and raise their curiosity. The group was very focused. The highlight of this field trip was the exhibition of Frida Kahlo. Frida and Me is a playful circuit with a series of fun activities.The Second Grade A and B were immersed in the life and work of this famous artist. Even the teachers and chaperon had a wonderful time.

The fourth graders have been working on changes to Earth’s surface in science. Mrs. Jacoway (American Science Teacher in Middle School) helped organize a multi-stationed experiment so that the students could work with a variety of types of erosion. They worked collaboratively in groups reading instructions, performing the experiment, and analyzing the results to answer questions.

At SDFAS, students are exposed to a diversity of learning situations. Teachers use cross-disciplinary methods in order to help students build meaningful knowledge. For instance, part of the science program in 1st grade is dedicated to practicing the scientific approach (questioning, observing, experimenting, describing…). During the same activity, students reinvest the vocabulary they have learned and incorporate their knowledge on size and measurement, which is a part of the mathematics program.

A memorable musical moment shared with our SDFAS community. Many thanks to Claire and the 5th graders students choir who sang extracts of the French opera “Nous n’irons pas à l’opéra” (we will not go to the opera), written by Julien Joubert.